. >> george weigel, i'm going to ask you to stand by. we have greg burke on the phone from vatican city. thank you for being with us on what i know is a busy morning for you. >> good morning. yes, it's a little hectic, straight away. >> the first question is how much of a surprise was this? clearly the pope was not in great health. he had talked about his willingness to step aside if he felt his health was such that he couldn't perform the duties of pope and yet we hear from our producer in rome, real surprise, almost shock at this. >> well, it is a surprise. although i think people had fair warning because it was a few years ago in a book called "light of the world," a book that i suggest to a lot of people, long interview with the german journalist, peter seawald and the journalist asked the pope if he would resign at any time. he said something interesting, because this was in the midst of a scandal and all that stuff. and he said well, now is certainly not the time. it's not a time to run when you're at great risk or in an emergency